HARRISBURG, PA – The Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) voted Friday to re-elect Richard Vague and Susan C. Lemmo as chair and vice chair, respectively.
The chair and vice chair lead the 15-member PSERS Board, and their terms are for one year.
Vague, a Philadelphia resident, is Gov. Josh Shapiro's board appointee. From 2020 until 2022, he served on the PSERS board in his previous capacity as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking & Securities (DOBS) as a member of the Wolf Administration.
Lemmo, a Clearfield resident, is in her first 3-year term representing annuitants and class DC participants. Prior to retiring from a 32-year career as an art teacher in the Curwensville Area School District, Lemmo served three terms (2014 to 2022) on the PSERS Board, representing active certified members and participants. During that time, she earned the Certified Public Pension Trustee accreditation from the Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems.
“We thank our fellow trustees for the continued faith they have shown in our leadership,” Vague and Lemmo said in a joint statement. “As trustees, we have each been entrusted with the fiduciary interests of more than half a million PSERS members, and we know the entire board remains focused on ensuring that the fund is effectively and prudently managed on their behalf.”
During the meeting, DOBS Secretary Wendy Spicher was elected as vice chair of the Investment Committee, the board’s only standing committee in which all trustees are members. Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity previously held the committee’s vice chair position and recently assumed the chair position to fill a board vacancy in accordance with board Bylaws.
PSERS is conducting a special election to fill this vacancy and the subsequent 3-year term on the 15-member board. The trustee vacancy is for an active certified member. Additional election details, including how to request a nomination packet, can be found online at PSERS’ website.
In other board business on Friday, the trustees voted to accept internal investigation recommendations submitted by its contracted law firm, Womble Bond Dickinson, LLP.
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About the Board of Trustees
The 15-member Board of Trustees is an independent administrative board of the Commonwealth. The Board stands in a fiduciary relationship to the members of PSERS regarding investment decisions and disbursements of the System's funds. The Board also performs other functions outlined in the Public School Employees' Retirement Code, such as certifying contribution rates, authorizing the actuarial valuation and independent audit of the System, and publishing an annual financial statement of the condition of the Retirement Fund. In addition, the Board oversees the operational activities performed by the System's Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer.
About the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System
PSERS, founded in 1917, began operations in 1919 to oversee a statewide defined benefit pension plan for public school employees. PSERS' role expanded upon the passage of Act 5 of 2017 to include oversight of two new benefit options consisting of defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) components and a stand-alone DC plan. As of June 30, 2024, PSERS had total net position of $77.4 billion and a membership of about 255,650 active, 253,900 retired school employees and beneficiaries, and 26,330 vested inactive members.